1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for judging whether a range in which an IC tag communicates with a reader/writer is appropriate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the conventional technology, at the time of installing an enterprise system using noncontact radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tags (hereinafter, “IC tags”), IC tags are located at positions within a range of receiving electric waves output by an antenna of a reader/writer (hereinafter, “electric-wave output range”).
Accordingly, a worker installing the IC tags estimates the electric-wave output range based on past experience and intuition, and locates each IC tag within the range estimated. Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. H6-350516 discloses a technology for accurately measuring positions at which IC tags are set.
However, in the conventional technology, an electric-wave output range cannot be accurately identified, because it is estimated based on a worker's experience and intuition.
Specifically, the electric-wave output range is largely and irregularly affected by an environment surrounding the antenna and the IC tags. The worker cannot take this into consideration.
Moreover, the process of setting IC tags within the electric-wave output range based on the worker's experience and intuition is performed by a trial-and-error method. This imposes a significant load on the worker.